Jefferson County Shares Health Assessment Outcomes

Jefferson County Public Health’s Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) program will host Community Conversation meetings in three county locations this fall, at which the CHIP team intends to share data gathered in a comprehensive health assessment conducted over the summer.

All county residents, particularly those who contributed to the health assessment surveys, forums and interviews, are invited to attend sessions in Port Townsend, the Tri-Area and Quilcene. The meetings will offer information about the assessment and how it has impacted the development of CHIP’s community health priorities.

The assessment was conducted to understand current health needs of county residents, and to identify where and how health can be improved in Jefferson County. It provides a wide-ranging picture of local residents’ health. Data collected is to determine the health priorities for Jefferson County for the next four to five years, becoming the basis for the next Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), which is set for completion in 2020.

“The community component of the health assessment, with surveys and community forums that reached out to people from Port Townsend to South County, added vital information that will be an integral part of the new Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP),” noted John Nowak, co-executive director for CHIP. “We want to share this data and these health priorities with the communities whose involvement helped us so much.”

“It is invaluable to have the data to help us plan for how to best serve our community,” said Lori Fleming, co-executive director for CHIP. “We are grateful for the contributions from Jefferson County Public Health, Jefferson Healthcare and the City of Port Townsend that allowed us to complete this assessment.”

The Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) partnership is an innovative collaboration between the City of Port Townsend, Jefferson Healthcare (JHC) and Jefferson County Public Health (JCPH) devoted to identifying the most pressing health priorities for Jefferson County and actions that will lead to improvements.

This project is also supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $200,000 with zero percentage financed with nongovernmental sources. The contents are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.